Lightning sparks Grampians bushfires

FIREFIGHTERS are battling 12 fires in the Grampians National Park due to lightning strikes over the past 24 hours.

Most of the fires are small and do not pose threats to communities, according to the Horsham CFA incident control.

Hamilton-based Country Fire Authority
region five duty officer Bruce Farquharson said there had been a number of fires caused by lightning strikes in and around the Grampians, Edenhope, Harrow and
Glenthompson.

He said fire calls started late yesterday afternoon with a fire
at Glenthompson.

"That was one of the early ones. It was in open country and
covered about 70 hectares near Glenthompson," he said.

"There are still a
number of fires in the Grampians, some are on the edge of the Grampains covering
both public and private land.

"We are putting quite a deal of resources into
the fire at Clutterbucks Road, Mirranatwa. We have about a dozen tankers and
ground crews working on that fire and there will be fire bombing aircraft,
bulldozers and graders in action."

Mr Farquharson said at last count the
Mirranatwa fire had burnt about 180 hectares and the CFA was working in
conjunction with the Department of Sustainability and Environment officers to
fight the blaze.

"There are numerous fire ongoing and we're co-ordinating our
efforts with DSE. They have quite a few fires going on in the Little Desert area
as well," he said.

"A fire at the Woolsthorpe-Hexham Road was sparked about
3.30am by a lightning strike. It was a fairly small grass fire. I'm not aware of
any fire not started by lightning strikes. The fire at Clutterbucks Road is the
one we are concerned about. It's not small, it needs plenty of attention and has
the potential to spread."

Mr Farquharson said firefighters were facing
favourable conditions to work this morning.

"One thing not in our favour
is the terrain, some of it's very tough. We would also expect the wind to pick
up this afternoon. Yesterday light local winds were effects by downdrafts from
thunderstorms which caused the winds to radiate out," he said.

A log
truck also caught fire about 4.30pm yesterday along the Beeac-Colac Road. CFA
units attended, the road was block and it took about 90 minutes to bring the
situation under control.